Overview

Pros

Cons

Expensive

320GB is average in 2011

Quick Take

The Seagate GoFlex Slim is thinner, lighter and faster than many portable hard drives, but it's also pricier.

The new GoFlex Slim external hard drive from Seagate is one of the lightest and thinnest USB hard drives on the market. The sleek, anodized aluminum enclosure packs a fast 7200rpm hard drive and USB 3.0 “super speed” performance. Keep reading to find out more.

Seagate GoFlex Slim Specifications

Model Number: STBE320100

Interface: USB 3.0 (USB 2.0 compatible)

Hard Drive Spin Speed: 7200 RPM

Capacity: 320GB

Height: 124mm (4.91 inches)

Width: 78mm (3.07 inches)

Length: 9mm (.354 inches)

Weight: 160g (.356 lb)

Warranty: 3 years

MSRP: $99.99

Build and DesignI noticed two things when I first picked up the Seagate GoFlex Slim. First, as the name suggests, it’s extremely thin for a portable hard drive. The thickness of just 9mm means it’s thinner than the ballpoint pen I carry in my laptop bag. Second, this hard drive comes wrapped in an anodized aluminum enclosure that makes the drive feel much more durable than the typical plastic-encased hard drives sold in stores.

The GoFlex Slim looks and feels like a premium product, and that’s something I’m not used to seeing from portable hard drives.

At first glance it’s easy to mistake the Seagate GoFlex Slim for one of the many portable USB Solid State Drives (SSDs) that have recently flooded the market. In fact, the GoFlex Slim is only marginally larger than the Iomega External SSD Flash Drive despite the fact that the GoFlex Slim has a spinning hard drive inside. The photo on the right shows the GoFlex Slim (bottom) next to the Iomega External SSD Flash Drive (top).

Although the matte black anodized finish gives the GoFlex Slim an attractive appearance, I noticed that skin oils from fingerprints create unsightly smudges every time I picked up the drive. The smudges are easy to remove with a cleaning cloth, but it’s something you’ll have to do on a regular basis if you want to keep the hard drive looking spotless. On a brighter note, the aluminum enclosure is very durable and resists scratches quite well. I carried the GoFlex Slim in my laptop bag next to a handful of loose USB flash drives, USB cables and my car keys. After a week of back-and-forth travel to and from work the GoFlex Slim didn’t have a single scratch.

That durability really is all the more impressive considering how thin the GoFlex Slim is compared to the competition. The GoFlex Slim is roughly half as thick as a “typical” portable hard drive like the Western Digital My Passport. If that isn’t impressive enough, the GoFlex Slim is about one third as thick as a high-capacity drives like the 1TB Iomega eGo.

Another key feature of the GoFlex Slim is the use of Seagate’s “GoFlex” adapter. The GoFlex adapter is essentially a modified SATA port that allows you to swap out the data connection on the outside of the drive. This not only allows you to potentially “upgrade” the GoFlex Slim to use another port (such as FireWire or eSATA) but it allows you to connect the drive with the Seagate GoFlex Net media sharing device or the GoFlex TV HD media player.